AUSTIN — More than three years after he was indicted, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is celebrating a major court ruling that will further delay his criminal fraud trials.

On Wednesday morning, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled the prosecutors pursuing charges against Paxton should have been paid a fixed, not hourly, rate. Their compensation broke local rules and state law, the court said, adding a six-figure invoice the prosecutors submitted for their work on the case need not be paid.

The prosecutors have threatened to step down if they lost this fight, forcing the state to look for new attorneys who’ll agree to pursue charges against the state’s sitting attorney general.

Well...duh. This case has always been a corrupt quid pro quo between Paxton's political enemies and the special prosecutors. Even if Paxton was ultimately exonerated, his political opponents would get to drag his name through the next election. Likewise, even if Paxton was ultimately exonerated, the prosecutors would be able to get rich at taxpayer expense.

Furthermore, if the prosecutors had any confidence in their case, they would have proceeded a long time ago. Had they obtained a conviction, nobody would have objected to their invoice. But it's hard to have confidence in obtaining a conviction when similar civil charges have already been dismissed twice. On the other hand, if your real objective was to use innuendo to drag Paxton's name through the mud until his re-election, events make total sense.

Bottom Line: We'll take the win, but it would have been nice if this completely obvious conclusion had been announced before the election....